Please, don’t discard the junk mail at Millennium Mailing Equipment – it could lead to the company’s next customer. Owner Don Dumont scrutinizes every postage stamp and, with almost three decades of industry knowledge under his belt, can quickly determine if the sender may need his services.
Millennium sells and services machines that assemble, stamp and seal millions of items that flow through the U.S. Postal Service. The Pawtucket-based company delivers everything from a simple postage meter to a network of machines that can fold, stuff, seal and address mail. His bulkiest machines cost more than $100,000 fully outfitted, stretch more than 16-feet-long and 4-feet-deep and put together 25,000 pieces of mail an hour.
The range of roughly 50 machines he sells – from companies with names like Accufast, Formax and Secap – find homes in medical offices, law firms, schools, government agencies, mail houses and more. Millennium sells machines and supplies to companies across the United States and services offices throughout New England.
More often than not Dumont can be found making those service calls himself. The Pawtucket resident spent almost two decades as a New England service technician for mail machines. He started by fixing machines heavy on the mechanics, such as a wheel that stamped postage on an envelope. The machinist by education later added electronics education to the mix, cracked open digital machines and has always been motivated to solve a good mechanical challenge.
“I love trying to figure out what the problem is,” he said. “A lot of people can sell equipment but once it’s in there, then it’s customer service.”
Dumont works nights, weekends and holidays. He recently spent four hours working with a customer bringing a crucial machine back to life in time for a mailing. Millennium will rent machines to customers with a one-off batch of mailings. And the company will lease machines to customers looking to spread out the bill.
“It’s not, sell it to them and then forget it,” Dumont said.
Dumont started Millennium in his Pawtucket home in December 2000, after a business launched with two partners failed to pan out.
Along with the physical growth, Millennium has added employees. Began with just Dumont, Millennium now counts three full-time and three-part time employees.
Dumont also sees opportunity for growth. He wants to hire a few people to follow up on leads – whether from junk mail or otherwise. And he sees growth potential in New Hampshire.
Looming in the background, however, is the Internet, which some say threatens the existence of traditional paper mailings and the behemoth U.S. Postal Service. But Dumont said the Internet does not worry him.
Predictions that 21st-century electronic marketing would displace old-fashioned mail have yet to materialize. And in some ways the rise of the World Wide Web and powerful computers has helped Millennium.
As the Postal Service seeks ways to cut costs, the agency offers discounts to businesses that bring in their mail presorted. For Millennium, it’s a perfect occasion to pitch software and machines that will automatically print and sort mail to the Postal Service’s standards.
The Internet also serves as a way for postage meters to keep updated with the latest rates and provides a mechanism for manufacturers to send updates.
Plus, advertising is not the only thing that companies mail. There are invoices to be sent, bills to be paid, corporate letters to be exchanged and Christmas cards mailed. And Dumont can claim intimate knowledge of the holiday-card field. Each year, he fires up the company machines to run off his Christmas cards in a short amount of time that would make most people jealous.
And yes, if you mail him a holiday card chances are good he will inspect the postage. •
COMPANY PROFILE
Millennium Mailing Equipment
OWNER: Don Dumont
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Seller and servicer of mailing equipment
LOCATION: 84 Harris St., Pawtucket
EMPLOYEES: 6
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2000
ANNUAL SALES: WND
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
